The present invention relates to securing a planar portion of a connector to a structural or supporting member by means of a specialized fastener opening, herein termed a “restraint opening” and a conventional fastener having a head and a shank.
The present invention finds particular use in temporarily securing an elongate connector that anchors a vertically-disposed structural member to a concrete foundation. The connector is typically called a strap anchor and by being partially embedded in a concrete foundation and attached to a structural member that is to be anchored, such as a wall stud, it anchors the wall stud.
According to the present invention, the embedded portion of the anchor has a specially-formed restraint opening that, in the preferred embodiments, can receive and hold the head of a standard single-headed fastener, especially a nail. The opening is located in the embedded portion of the connector such that the nail can be aligned with the opening and partially driven into a wooden form board or other member. A form board, as used here, is a temporary structural member that is used to define the boundaries of a poured concrete foundation or other cementitious member. By connecting the single-headed nail to the connector and to the form board, the nail serves as a brace for the connector. This helps to keep the connector plumb during the concrete pour.
The connector alignment can be adjusted after the nail head and restraint opening have been interlocked because the nail can be adjusted by being pushed in, pulled out, or aligned while remaining strong enough to serve as an effective brace.
As evidenced by such prior patents as U.S. Pat. No. 5,150,553, granted to Alfred D. Commins on Sep. 29, 1992 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,182, granted to Alfred D. Commins, on Sep. 29, 1998, connectors that are partially embedded in a concrete foundation and attached to vertically-disposed structural members by means of fasteners are well-known in the prior art. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,150,553 and 5,813,182 are incorporated herein by reference. These connectors, commonly called strap anchors, have been widely accepted by builders due to the ease with which they can be installed, and their relatively low cost as compared to other types of anchors.
Strap anchors, as described above, are generally elongate members. They protrude well above the upper surface of the foundation. Strap anchors are generally designed to be attached with light fasteners such as nails. A large number of nails is generally necessary in order to make a secure attachment between the connector and the vertically-disposed structural member. The upper portion of the connector must therefore be fairly long to accommodate the large numbers of fasteners.
A considerable portion of the strap anchor protrudes above the level of the foundation and this creates problems during the pouring of the concrete around the strap anchor. Generally, strap anchors are attached to the outer form boards near the tops of the form boards by means of typical fasteners such as nails and conventional fastener openings. The inventor has found that during a typical foundation pour, the flowing concrete has a tendency to move the strap anchor out of the alignment it originally had when it was attached to the form board. This is thought to occur because the attachment of the strap anchor to the form board is insufficient.
To improve the connection between the form board and the strap anchor so that the anchor is less likely to be moved out of its original and correct alignment, the inventors have devised an additional attachment between the form board and the strap anchor.